1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to identifying addresses such as phone numbers, email, and so forth, and relates more specifically to allowing a user to initiate communication with the addresses such as phone numbers or email addresses received in spoken communications.
2. Introduction
With the commercial success of cellular phones, many people have and use voicemail. Many telephone companies also offer voicemail for landlines that is remotely accessible from any phone. Voicemail acts as an answering machine in that it allows a caller to leave a recorded spoken message for the person called, in the event that the person called is unavailable. Often callers will leave a callback number or some other information, such as an address or an email address, in the message. In some cases, the callback number in the message will differ from the number called from and recorded in the caller identification information, making the caller identification information less valuable.
If voicemail is retrieved on the go, people can encounter difficulties in simultaneously holding a phone, paying close attention to the voicemail, and quickly writing down the phone number in the voicemail all while walking, driving, going through airport security, on a jobsite, etc. In addition, some environments, such as a construction site, concert, party, dance club, subway, or airport, may be too loud to clearly hear a voicemail message. In other words, the contact information may be available in a spoken form, but the spoken form of the information may not be conveniently accessible. Accordingly, what is needed in the art is a way to allow users to easily select and connect to address information in spoken messages with a minimum of effort.